from Mass.gov
Funding and Newly Released Climate Change Data to Help Communities Prepare for Climate Change. Continuing its commitment to working with communities and local partners to prevent and prepare for climate change, the Baker-Polito Administration today announced $5 million in supplemental funding for the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Program. The deadline for MVP Planning Grant is 5 PM May 11 and requires municipalities to match hours commitment of 120-200 hours. The Action Grant deadline is May 18, 2018 at 5PM. Action Grantees must commit to funding 25% of project cost. Municipalities can ask for $10,000- $400,000.
The grant and designation program, which was created last year as part of Governor Baker’s Executive Order 569, provides communities with funding, technical support, climate change data and planning tools to identify hazards, develop strategies to improve resilience, and implement priority actions to adapt to climate change. Governor Baker recently filed legislation which would put the MVP Program into law, as well as authorize over $1.4 billion in capital allocations for investments in safeguarding residents, municipalities and businesses from the impacts of climate change, protecting environmental resources, and investing in communities.
To further assist communities in planning for climate change impacts, the Baker-Polito Administration has also launched a new website, resilient MA Climate Clearinghouse, which will provide communities access to the best science and data on expected climate change impacts, information on planning and actions communities can deploy to build resiliency and avoid loss, and links to important grant programs and technical assistance. The site, which was built with data developed through a partnership between EEA, the Northeast Climate Center at UMass-Amherst and the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management, provides access to statewide climate change projections showing how temperature, precipitation and sea level rise will change through the end of the century, which any user can overlay with other data of interest, including information on emergency facilities, infrastructure and natural resources.